His mother left behind a love of singing and an old guitar

Sunday

Jul 27, 2008 at 12:01 AM

Most people do not realize how good the acoustics are on Broadway in Jim Thorpe. On a hot summer weekend, you can hear the plaintive tones of a vintage Martin guitar long before coming far enough up the street to see Tom Storm strumming and singing.

AL ZAGOFSKY

Most people do not realize how good the acoustics are on Broadway in Jim Thorpe. On a hot summer weekend, you can hear the plaintive tones of a vintage Martin guitar long before coming far enough up the street to see Tom Storm strumming and singing.

Usually, he sings one of the 20 or so songs that this 28-year-old singer-songwriter has composed. Other times, he draws from balladeers like Harry Chapin and Jim Croce, or from artists like Tory Amos and Ani Difranco that "have a sense of being vulnerable and very raw," Storm said, describing both the music that inspires him and the music that he creates. But always, he accompanies himself on his Martin guitar.

Storm picked up the guitar and began learning to play only three years ago — although he's been singing since he was in the cradle and listened to his mother playing this Martin guitar and sing the folk songs to him that she played in a church folk group. He learned all the songs.

His mother passed away eight years ago. A year later, while sorting through the house, in a basement closet he found the Martin guitar.

"My mom and I used to sing a lot together," Storm said. "I picked up a lot of her old books from the folk group and I already knew them by heart. All I had to do was learn the chords and learn how to strum and I could re-create them all.

"I thought it would be a good way to remember her," Storm said. "I found it to be a complete passion for me — and a good way for me to meditate.

"I sang with her from the beginning," Storm said. "Being a vocalist was something my parents pushed me towards. For a brief time I went on auditions to New York. I played Kurt von Trapp one season in Muhlenberg's production of 'The Sound of Music.'

"I did a lot of singing and I listen to a wide range of music," he said. "I am drawn to folk music — partially because it tells a story. I write my own music and I am told that's probably what I perform the best.

"It's very personal. A lot of people have said it's very naked. I've used my music and songs to reflect and process a lot of what has happened in my life. It's a way for me to come to terms with things and to really hash it out."

Storm was born on a farm in Hunterdon County, N.J., in 1980 to parents Don and Lenore Storm. Both were on their second marriage and had children from previous marriages who didn't live with them. Tom was their only child in a family of 10 children.

Don Storm came from a lineage of farmers who dated back to the 1400s in Germany. When he was 1 year old, the family moved to a Bethlehem Township farm to escape rising Hunterdon County taxes. Five years later, they moved to a farm in Brodheadsville. Lenore worked as a visiting home nurse in the Stroudsburg area and Don worked for AT&T in security and as a lineman.

As taxes began rising in Monroe County, they gave up on farming and moved to Bear Creek Lakes and Tom went to Jim Thorpe High School. In the mid-1990s, his father had quadruple bypass surgery.

"Things changed a lot after that," Tom remembers. His father left and Tom and his mother moved to a house in Upper Jim Thorpe. His father passed away in 1999 and his mother in 2000.

He discovered the guitar after his mother's passing. "Each guitar sounds different, so to be able to hear music from the same guitar as I heard it from when I was growing up was really amazing. It brought back a lot of memories.

"I play a lot just to relax," Storm said. "It was a busy Sunday or Monday a few years ago, so I went outside, sat on the stoop, opened my case, and I made some money that day.

"When you are not being paid and people are walking by and being generous, I find it easier to explore different aspects of my music without feeling there is an expectation," he said. "I can explore my music and push different boundaries. I'm doing it for free so nobody can tell me one way or another.

"Some people tell me the acoustics on Broadway are pretty nice. So, people hear me up and down Broadway before they see me. They can be prepared. People will sit across the street at the old YMCA building, get their lunch, and listen to me play.

"They sit for a half hour or so until they finish with their meal, give me a few dollars and say thank you."